Identification means

ABSTRACT

A booklet of tickets suitable for identification purposes comprising a plurality of metallic tickets each lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes; a plurality of metallic counterfoils each lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes, and each being detachably affixed to a ticket; each counterfoil being affixed to the remaining counterfoils which together form a stub having means for attachment of the booklet to an item to be identified; and each ticket having the same three-dimensional identification mark and having means for attachment to an item to be identified.

Unite States Patent 1 Porcher et al.

[451 Sept. 4, 1973 IDENTIFICATION MEANS [76] Inventors: Alain Porcher;Michael L. Lis, both of 16 Rue Dumont, DUrville, Paris 16c, France [22]Filed: Oct. 7, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 78,885

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 10, 1969 France 6934783 [52]111.8. Cl 40/2 F, 283/18 [51] Int. Cl. G09f 3/08 5 8] Field of Search283/18-21; 40/300-304, 2 F, 10 C; 119/1, 106

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,494,204 5/1924 Zgol et al283/18 384,237 6/1888 Dewitt 283/19 1,530,680 3/1925 Linden et al 40/2 RX 1,682,540 8/1928 Schlegelmilch 283/18 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS77,672 6/1954 Denmark 28l/l6 Primary Examiner-Wm. H. GriebAttorney-Delio and Montgomery [5 7 ABSTRACT A booklet of ticketssuitable for identification purposes comprising a plurality of metallictickets each lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes;a plurality of metallic counterfoils each, lying one above the other insubstantially parallel planes, and each being detachably affixed to aticket; each counterfoil being affixed to the remaining counterfoilswhich together form a stub having means for attachment of the booklet toan item to be identified; and each ticket having the samethree-dimensional identification mark and having means for attachment toan item to be identified.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEP 4 ma 13.755934 INVENTORS ATTORNEY5 'PATENTEBSEP 4 ma SHEEI 2 (IF 2 T Z WEN 5 i 123456 0 l I RENE H5456IDENTIFICATION MEANS The present invention relates to means foridentifying an integral whole or aggregate which is divisible into itsconstituent parts.

In industry and commerce there are many cases where it is desirable tobe able to identify products of all of the same type, or a group orseries of products or objects. In a number of cases, this identificationcan be effected without difficulty, by simple marking with a liquid orthe attachment of labels.

However, the direct marking of certain products, such as foodstuffs, isoften not practicable. In addition where consignments of products haveto be split up, it is desirable to be able to identify the differentparts of a group to which these parts pertain or from which they arederived.

Correlating the identification of such products involves certaindifficulties when they are of a type on which it is difficult, if notimpossible, to stick labels or on which it is impossible to mark with aliquid.

The aim of the invention is to provide a simple practical means whichcan be conveniently employed, whenever it is desired to accuratelyidentify all the elements of a group or all the separate parts of anintegral whole, after it has been split up, and to correlate theelements or parts with the group or whole respectively.

This problem is particularly acute where the whole or its parts to beidentified, undergo soiling or rough handling which may obliterate,damage or destroy the identifying mark. In such cases the failure of anidentification system can be serious and lead to wastage of the goods,or at least attempts to reidentify the parts or the whole, resulting inconfusion and additional expense.

One particular area where this problem has been met is the livestockindustry where it is desirable to mark an animal due for slaughter andto subsequently identify the parts of the animal as originating from aparticular beast. This need frequently arises where parts of an animal,for example the liver, may be diseased, and all or some of the otherparts or organs of the same animal have to be recovered from acollection of similar parts or organs from a multiplicity of differentanimals.

Thus for example, it is common practice in the slaughterhouses of manycountries to inspect the collection of livers from slaughtered beasts todetermine if necrosis due to liver fluke disease is present. Such aliver may be condemned as unsuitable for human consumption, and it isnecessary to know from which beast the liver originated, and to identifythe remaining organs of the same animal.

Attempts to provide a successful identification system to meet this typeof problem have frequently failed in the past for a variety of reasons.Thus a marking liquid frequently cannot be satisfactorily applied to theanimal on the hoof at the entry to the slaughter house, where a recordof its identity is needed. The same difficulty can occur with the use ofpaper or cardboard labels, and these meet a further problem that theanimal may be scorched to remove skin fur or hair, and the labelsdamaged or destroyed. In addition, the conditions of manyslaughterhouses would lead to the soiling of such labels so that theirmarkings would be totally or partially obliterated.

It has now been found that a satisfactory identification means comprisesa booklet of labels suitable for identification purposes comprising aplurality of metallic tickets each lying one above the other insubstantially parallel planes,

a plurality of metallic counterfoils each lying one above the other insubstantially parallel planes, and each being detachably affixed to aticket,

each counterfoil being affixed to the remaining counterfoils whichtogether form a stub, the stub having means for attachment of thebooklet to an item to be identified,

and each ticket having a same three-dimensional identification mark andhaving means for attachment to an item to be identified.

The tickets and counterfoils are preferably made from the same material,and form an integral whole from which a ticket can be easily detached,for example, by providing a line of weakness between the ticket and itscounterfoil, such as a line of perforations. Conveniently a strip of twoor more tickets may form an integral whole with each counterfoill, eachof the tickets being readily detachable from one another and from thecounterfoil and each ticket bearing a same mark as the counterfoil towhich it is attached. Mild steel or aluminium sheets or foil are twoparticular substances which may be used with advantage to make thetickets and counterfoils, but other suitable metallic materials ormetallic coated materials may also be employed.

It is also preferable that the tickets be of a flexible nature so thatthey give way to incidental rough handling and do not readily break. Ifsheet. metal aluminium is employed, the use of thin sheets provides thisproperty and facilitates the detachment of the tickets from theircounterfoils.

The tickets are normally disposed one above the other in substantiallyparallel planes, but of course the use of flexible material will readilygive rise to a change of disposition upon handling.

The counterfoils may be affixed to one another by any known means, andthe means for attachment on the stub of counterfoils may also take anyform, but preferably it takes the form of a hole.

The use of the same three-dimensional mark on each ticket provides amultiplicity of tickets for attachment to different parts of a whole,and this mark is threedimensional by virtue of its being imprinted,impressed, punched, embossed or stamped onto or into the ticket, and maytake the fonn of one or moreholes or a portion elevated above ordepressed below the plane of the remainder of each ticket. The specificform of the mark is naturally one which a customer desires and may be asequence of letters, numerals or special marks, or a combination of oneor more of them.

Other characteristics of the invention will become apparent in thecourse of the following specific description which is provided by way ofexample, and is not to be construed as limiting the invention.

The attached drawings illustrate as follows:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a booklet of tickets in accordance with theinvention.

FIG. 2, is a side view of a section through FIG. 1 on an enlarged scalealong the line A--A.

FIG. 3, is a plan view showing several such booklets of ticketsmanufactured by sequential production.

FIG. 4 shows a fastening element of a type which may be used for theattachment either of a whole booklet of tickets or an individual ticket.

FIG. 5 is a partial view of a device employed for the attachment of abooklet or a ticket thereof by means of a fastening element, such asthat illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing several booklets of tickets eachcounterfoil having attached to it a strip of tickets.

With reference to the FIG. 1 and 2, the booklet of tickets which isindicated, as a whole, by reference numeral 1, comprises several tickets2 stamped, for example, out of a thin sheet of aluminium. The tickets 2are held together in a wad containing any appropriate number, forexample eight, or any other number, by means of a conventionalflange-fastened eyelet 3, located in the vicinity of one of the ends ofthe tickets.

The booklet of tickets 1 may be made by fastening together a wad ofblank tickets with a flange-fastened eyelet 3. The wad thus obtained isthen placed in an embossing machine or punch of the conventional type,so as to provide all the tickets 2 of the wad with one or moreidentifying marks which are exactly similar and thus tally with eachother, such as those identified by reference numerals 4 and 5 in FIG. 1.A transverse perforated line 6 is simultaneously punched through thebooklet in the vicinity of eyelet 3, between the latter and the markings4 and 5 on the tickets to form the counterfoils 2a of a stub 16. Inaddition a hole 7, is punched near the free end of the tickets.

The embossing or punching of the identifying marks or perforations may,of course, be carried out in several steps or by means of other suitablemachines.

In this way a booklet of tickets 1 is obtained, whose tickets 2 can bedetached from their counterfoils 2a and fastened to the animal or itsvarious parts by way of the hole 7, for example, by means of a fasteningelement, the attachment of which will be described in greater detailbelow.

The tickets 2 may, of course, consist of a material other thanaluminium; however, as regards their application to the slaughteringtrade, aluminium is particularly suitable. It may be anodised or paintedin various colours.

FIG. 3 illustrates a series of booklets l of tickets 2 in accordancewith the invention, obtained from several sheet aluminium blanks. Bymeans of blank aluminium strips and appropriate punching means, thebookelts ll of tickets 2, complete with counterfoils 2a, can be rapidlyand inexpensively produced in sequence, identifying markS 5,5" beingidentical in respect of each individual booklet 1 and different withregard to each con- I secutive booklet.

FIG. '4 illustrates a fastening means 8 of a known type, which may beconveniently employed for attaching a booklet of tickets to the ear, forinstance, of the animal on the hoof, before it arrives at theslaughtering area.

The fastening means 8, may be made of any flexible material, forexample, of nylon, and comprises a shaft 9, provided at one of its endswith a transverse stop element 10, which is produced in one piece withshaft 9 and the other end of which comprises a plate 11. The shaft 9 isof approximately the same diameter as stop 10 except at the junctiontherebetween where the shaft 9 is of a smaller dimension than theremainder of the shaft 9.

The device used to attach this fastening means 8 is of a known type, forexample that described in U.S. Pat. Specification No. 3,103,666.

This device includes a housing 14 and a hollow pointed tube 12, in whichis arranged the stop element 10 with its shaft 9 and plate 11 protrudingfrom the rod 12 through an axial slit (not shown) therein.

As shown in FIG. 5, tube 12 is passed through the central hole (3a) ofan eyelet 3 of a booklet 1 of tickets 2, then, for example, through anear 13 of an animal, and a pusher rod 15 is released into tube 12 whichdrives the stop element 10 through the hole 3a in the eyelet 3, andthrough the ear 13, drawing with its shaft 9, until stop element 10 isejected from tube 12, and by its natural flexibility assumes a rightangled disposition to the shaft 9. The booklet 1 of tickets 2 is nowsecured to ear 13 since stop element 10 and plate 11 effectively hinderthe escape of shaft 9 and booklet 1.

As the slaughtered animal is cut up, the operative detaches each ticket2 of booklet 1 in turn from its counterfoil 2a and fastens it by thesame fastening means 8 and attachment device to each part of the animalwhich has been removed, using to this end the hole 7, provided for thispurpose at the end of each ticket 2 which is remote from the set ofcounterfoils 2a of the booklet.

The last ticket 2 may be left attached to the counterfoil 2a so thatclearly, when the whole cycle of operations has been completed, it willalways be possible to identify to which animal, of which a record ispreferably made prior to its entering the slaughter house, each partbelongs, no matter where or with what these parts have been stored.Alternatively, the same identifying mark present on each ticket 2 of abooklet 1 may be incorporated on the counterfoil 2a, so that all thetickets 2 may be detached.

The tickets may be of any desired size, as also may be the identifyingmarks which are preferably legible at a distance of approximately 2metres.

According to a modified embodiment, tickets may be longer and comprisetwo or more consecutively arranged tickets, the first ticket beingjoined to the set of counterfoils, a second ticket being joined to thefirst ticket by means of a further perforated line, and so on. Thismodified embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 6 wherein the referencenumerals have the same significance as described with reference to FIGS.l-5.

What we claim is:

1. A booklet of tickets suitable for identification of an item and forcorrelation of a plurality of items comprising the parts of a whole whena ticket is attached to each item, comprising a first plurality of morethan two metallic tickets corresponding in number to said parts, saidtickets having identical indicia thereon and each lying one above theother in substantially parallel planes,

a plurality of metallic counterfoils corresponding in number tosaidtickets, each counterfoil lying one above the other in substantiallyparallel planes, and each being detachably affixed to a ticket,

each counterfoil being affixed to the remaining counterfoils whichtogether form a stub having means for attachment of the booklet to anitem to be identified,

said booklet of tickets including a second plurality of tickets eachlying one above the other in substantially parallel planes, each ticketbeing detachably affixed to a ticket which is itself detachably affixeddirectly to a counterfoil, said second plurality of tickets each havinga same three-dimensional identification mark as the mark in or on thetickets detachably affixed to the counterfoils,

and each ticket having the same three-dimensional identification markand having means for attachment to each item to be identified,

said three-dimensional identification mark comprising a portion of eachticket elevated above or depressed below the plane of the ticket.

2. A method of identifying and correlating the parts of a slaughteredanimal comprising the steps of:

a. providing a booklet of tickets, comprising a plurality of more thantwo metallic tickets corresponding in number to said parts, said ticketshaving identical indicia thereon and each lying one above the other insubstantially parallel planes, a plurality of -metallic counterfoilscorresponding in number to said tickets, each counterfoil lying oneabove the other in substantially parallel planes, and each beingdetachably affixed to a ticket, each counterfoil being affixed to theremaining counterfoils which together form a stub having means forattachment of the booklet to an item to be identified, and each tickethaving the same three-dimensional identification mark and having meansfor attachment to each item to be identified,

b. attaching said booklet to an animal prior to its slaughter whereinsaid attachment is effected via the stub of the booklet,

c. detaching a ticket from the booklet after the animal is slaughtered,and

d. attaching said ticket to a part of the animal requiring subsequentcorrelation with a residual part of said animal or other part of saidanimal.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein the threedimensional identificationmark comprises a portion of each ticket elevated above or depressedbelow the plane of the ticket.

4. A method as in claim 2 said booklet includes a second plurality oftickets each lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes,each ticket being detachably affixed to a ticket which is itselfdetachably affixed directly to a counterfoil, said second plurality oftickets each having a same three-dimensional identification mark as themark in or on the tickets detachably affixed directly to thecounterfoils.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the threedimensional identificationmark comprises a portion of each ticket elevated above or depressedbelow the plane of the ticket.

1. A booklet of tickets suitable for identification of an item and for correlation of a plurality of items comprising the parts of a whole when a ticket is attached to each item, comprising a first plurality of more than two metallic tickets corresponding in number to said parts, said tickets having identical indicia thereon and each lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes, a plurality of metallic counterfoils corresponding in number to said tickets, each counterfoil lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes, and each being detachably affixed to a ticket, each counterfoil being affixed to the remaining counterfoils which together form a stub having means for attachment of the booklet to an item to be identified, said booklet of tickets including a second plurality of tickets each lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes, each ticket being detachably affixed to a ticket which is itself detachably affixed directly to a counterfoil, said second plurality of tickets each having a same threedimensional identification mark as the mark in or on the tickets detachably affixed to the counterfoils, and each ticket having the same three-dimensional identification mark and having means for attachment to each item to be identified, said three-dimensional identification mark comprising a portion of each ticket elevated above or depressed below the plane of the ticket.
 2. A method of identifying and correlating the parts of a slaughtered animal comprising the steps of: a. providing a booklet of tickets, comprising a plurality of more than two metallic tickets corresponding in number to said parts, said tickets having identical indicia thereon and each lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes, a plurality of metallic counterfoils corresponding in number to said tickets, each counterfoil lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes, and each being detachably affixed to a ticket, each counterfoil being affixed to the remaining counterfoils which together form a stub having means for attachment of the booklet to an item to be identified, and each ticket having the same three-dimensional identification mark and having means for attachment to each item to be identified, b. attaching said booklet to an animal prior to its slaughter wherein said attachment is effected via the stub of the booklet, c. detaching a ticket from the booklet after the animal is slaughtered, and d. attaching said ticket to a part of the animal requiring subsequent correlation with a residual part of said animal or other part of said animal.
 3. A method as in claim 2 wherein the three-dimensional identification mark comprises a portion of each ticket elevated above or depressed below the plane of the ticket.
 4. A method as in claim 2 said booklet includes a second plurality of tickets each lying one above the other in substantially parallel planes, each ticket being detachably affixed to a ticket which is itself detachably affixed directly to a counterfoil, said second plurality of tickets each having a same three-dimensional identification mark as the mark in or on the tickets detachably affixed directly to the counterfoils.
 5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the three-dimensional identification mark comprises a portion of each ticket elevated above or depressed below the plane of the ticket. 